Community Collaboration

Building community amongst makers as well as building a relationship between the Makerspace and community is important. The learning community is also a key component in the definition of maker spaces by Martin, 2015; Halverson & Sheridon, 2014. The NiMC project works to address the challenges of forming learning communities in rural learning environments. The NiMC project works to support the shared space (access to tools) as well as shared knowledge (access to mentors) in a learning community; positioning the project at the intersection of the learning community: Place, Shared Purpose, and Social Context (see figure to the right).

Learning Community integrated with NiMC project.

Vr and telepresence

Shared Purpose

Projects

Activities

The content domain of interests can be organized into categories of interests: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional (Holly, 1991).

Makerspaces

Social Context

Virtual Reality

Telepresence

The learning that occurs among and between people, either in local groups or connected via the web, VR, or telepresence.

Collaborative Design

Place

Physical Space

Virtual Reality

Telepresence

This project has extended beyond the physical Makerspace but also investigated Virtual collaborative spaces. In addition to online e-communities.